Almost exactly this time a year ago, little T was in his school’s fifth grade play. It was a musical — “Anything Goes” — and he tried out for the lead male role.
Not that I doubted his acting chops; there’s nothing he loves more than being a ham around the house, singing in the mirror at the top of his lungs. Maybe, I thought, it’s better not to get his hopes too high… what if there’s some amazingly talented kid going for the same role, you know?
Well friends, he got the role. And suddenly our lives were filled with theater, morning, noon and night. We watched all kinds of taped performances of the show on YouTube, discovering Sutton Foster’s amazing turn as Reno in its 2022 revival on Broadway.
(I even tried to sneak in the Indiana Jones movies by sharing Kate Capshaw’s take on the title song in Temple of Doom, but… no dice 😞)
His performance — in three separate shows, mind you — blew us all away. I couldn’t believe he actually got up on the stage, in front of all those people. Not only did he not forget his lines, he was totally comfortable up there.
Now, you may be wondering why I’m sharing this with you — and, if you’ve had children, you’ve probably had an experience just like this.
But I was thinking about it after I stumbled across this video, an interview with the comedian Jerry Seinfeld, on what he’s learned from having kids — especially since he didn’t have a family until he was in his late 40s.
Around the middle of their conversation, Graham Bensinger asks Seinfeld about another interview he gave over a decade ago, in which he said he realized “there was this whole other quadrant of my brain lying there dormant. Kids give you something. If it wasn’t for my kids, I’m pretty much done with living. I could kill myself. Now there’s something else to live for.”
He was joking in that next-to-last sentence (of course!), but what he said next really caught my ear:
“Kids are the greatest show on earth. So, you just wanna watch them live. [There’s an] entertainment value in watching them try to live
You know, I don’t watch all the shows that everybody watches, I don’t find them interesting. I watch baseball, and [other than that] I like to see what the kids are doing. The kids are very entertaining because they’re primitive humans.
You can’t not watch the turtles try to get to the waves. You know, the little blue turtles when they run down the beach? And some of them make it and some of them don’t? You have to watch it.
And so that’s what kids are — you’re just watching these turtles run for their life.”
I share that because last year, I thought little T was all about theater — it was what he wanted to do, what he wanted to be. His sister had loved it too when she was in school, and he wanted to follow in her footsteps.
Now, those days may as well have been a century ago. Because now, there’s nothing we talk about, think about, breathe about more than college football.
Last year, he was practicing how to quickly change in and out of different costumes to make his marks for each scene in the play. Now, we’re practicing running routes in the backyard, as I try — try! — to learn how to throw a spiral so I can get the ball to him at just the right moment.
Every Sunday, when the new rankings come out, we go over them with a fine-tooth comb. Did UGA get the shaft? Should Indiana really be ranked that high? Look at what’s happened to Miami and Carson Beck…
(All the backyard playing we’re doing, by the way, is reminding me why this sport is played mostly by people in their teens and twenties — at 54, your fast-twitch muscle fibers don’t work quite like they once did 😂)
What impresses me most, though, is how he doesn’t feel bound by what he “was” before, an actor. He feels free to take that role off like a jacket and try on another, completely new one as someone who loves football.
He’s only 12 years old, of course, so we’ll likely see him make (many) more changes like this. But there’s something so freeing about letting go of what you were before and becoming something completely new — something I think we all can learn from, you know?
Anyway, I hope you’re having a great week and getting some great runs in — as always, keep me posted on how your running/life is going.
Your friend,
— Terrell
What a wonderful column! I love how kids are so curious and go “all in” with whatever captures their interest and imagination at any given moment. Not being tied to any one specific thing, at that age, is such a healthy way to be. Being exposed to a variety of different activities makes for a well rounded person and a richness of memories. I can’t wait to learn, a year from now, what your son is pursuing with passion and vigor!
My daughter (almost 12) is prepping for her first school play and she’s OBSESSED! This part of having kids is very, very cool.
Congratulations to your actor 🤩